The human brain controls all functions of the human body, including motor control; regulation of heart rate, breathing, and body temperature; emotion; executive functioning; speech and language; and the reception and processing of sensory information. As part of the nervous system, the human brain is considered the most complex living structure known in the universe, with an estimated 100 billion neurons passing signals via as many as 1,000 trillion synaptic connections. Accordingly, the brain is the most metabolically active organ in the body (by a wide margin), while representing only 2% of a human's body weight. Conversely, the brain accounts for more than 20% of the body's total energy expenditure.
The human brain is epicenter for all learning and memory and critical to healthy executive functioning and reasoning. However, its delicate nature makes the brain susceptible to many types of damage and disease. Further, as humans age, a normal amount of memory loss and diminished cognition is often realized. It would be advantageous to provide supplementation of compounds (preferably comprising one or more vitamins, herbs, and nutrients) to increase memory retention and cognition, or prevent/delay the onset of certain unresolved neurological degenerative (“neurodegenerative”) diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease multiple sclerosis and dementia, to name a few.
The growth of neurodegenerative disease is staggering. Approximately 5.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Of those, approximately 5.3 million are over the age of 65 and 200,000 are under the age of 65 (“younger-onset Alzheimer's disease”). About 1 million Americans (and about 10 million people worldwide) suffer from Parkinson's disease. 400,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Other known but unresolved problems relating to brain health, include but are not limited to dementia, senile dementia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
As healthy individuals (e.g., without any of the neurodegenerative diseases listed above) age, they may still suffer memory loss, diminished cognition, decreased retention of information, mild confusion, decreased processing speed and/or decreased concentration. Historically, this has been accepted as a normal result of aging, but there is increasing evidence that indicates it may be due to health issues that are treatable. These health issues include but are not limited to medication side effects, vitamin B12 deficiency, alcoholism, tumors or infections in the brain, or some thyroid, kidney, or liver disorders. Emotional problems, such as stress, anxiety, or depression, may also cause basic memory loss. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a compound, such as a dietary supplement, that treats dementia, memory loss and neurodegenerative disease, and that otherwise addresses the issues identified above. It is also desirable to provide a compound comprised of certain vitamins, herbs, mushrooms, and other substances are known to assist with the production of neurons in the brain, the protection of existing neurons, and overall brain size.
The problems described above (and others) are addressed by the compositions and methods described in detail below.